Sunday, Nov. 3

Worship & Work Sunday

Wear your grubbies and bring your garden tools so that we can spruce up the church grounds after worship. There will be inside jobs also. All are welcome to the free luncheon provided by the Ministry of Congregational Life, even if you’re unable to participate in the clean-up!

November Compassion Offering: Luke House

The mission of Luke House is simple: to feed the hungry no questions asked.

You may have heard of Luke House. If not, it is because they go about their mission work quietly, serving free meals nine times a week, year-round, rain or shine. At each meal Luke House serves between 60 and 120 guests. All guest and volunteers are treated with dignity and respect which is a major value of the Luke House.

Luke House, located on Madison’s near east side, has been feeding Madison’s hungry since 1986. Guests show up and are fed, no questions asked. The facility is set up like a restaurant with volunteers serving a healthy meal and beverages to guests. The atmosphere is very pleasant, and the guests have a chance to socialize. Among the guests are Madison’s poorest. Luke House does not solve all the problems encountered by the poor, but they do their best to bring food and comfort to those who need it most.

 One guest said, “This free meal site produces good home-cooked church-basement food and warm feelings. You feel like you’re at a potluck but no one expects you to bring anything. For just a moment I felt loved and accepted”

Luke House does this with the help of volunteers from the community and approximately 30 different local churches. It receives no money from the city, county, state or federal governments. All funding comes from donations. Here is the link to the You Tube video created by Sarah Bullard, the director of Luke House.

Thank you for your donation. Funds from this compassion offering will go directly to buying food for Luke House’s unsponsored meals. 

Do you have an idea for a Compassion Offering?

The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service is responsible for designating a 

recipient organization for the monthly compassion offerings. We welcome and encourage you to be part of this process by helping to identify organizations that are both meaningful to you and in keeping with the ORUCC mission of social justice and outreach.  Consider a non-profit that aligns with our church mission and that you are willing to help us promote. Then, follow the instructions on this form: Compassion Offering Request Form. The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service will review and consider your request at one of our monthly meetings. Thank you in advance!

– The Ministry of Christian Witness & Service

Sign Up to Volunteer on Sunday Mornings now through the end of

November 2024!

  AT ORUCC, the Members are the Ministers!

We are seeking volunteers to serve on Sunday mornings for in-person worship. You need not be a member, simply a person who loves ORUCC and is eager to find a place to serve! Young people are welcome to sign up, too!

Would you consider serving one or more times as

a Coffee Maker, a Welcomer, an Usher, a Lay Liturgist or

to assist with Holy Communion?

Feel free to sign up as an individual, a couple, or a family!

Click here to sign up as a Coffee Maker

Click here to sign up as a Welcomer

Click here to sign up as an Usher

Click here to sign up as a Lay Liturgist

Click here to assist with Holy Communion

After selecting one or more dates, you will need to click “Submit and Sign Up” at the bottom of the page, then enter your name & email address, then click “Sign Up Now.”

Questions or problems signing up?

Contact Ken Pennings at [email protected] or 608-556-2371.

Plastic Recycling Challenge!

Join Care of Creation in a Plastic Recycling Challenge! Our goal is to collect 1,000 pounds of plastic bags (and other plastic films like bubble wrap) to exchange for a plastic bench that we can use to enjoy the church gardens. Click on the Trex recycling challenge website for more details about what can be collected. Or watch this short video to learn about how grocery bags can be turned into plastic wood. We’ll collect bags at church and then take them to HyVee for recycling.

Friday Breakfast Group – November 1st

The next Friday Breakfast is set for November 1st at 8:30 am at Denny’s, 433 S. Gammon Road. All are welcome! The group meets on the first Friday of the month and includes both men and women. Join us for this informal chance to connect and converse on many topics. Contact Louise Jeanne, Link for more information.

Thanksgiving Day “Birdie Derby” Run/Walk

Once again Rob Martens is coordinating an ORUCC group to participate in the Thanksgiving Day “Birdie Derby” Run/Walk (formerly Berbee Derby). Sign up by this Sunday, Nov. 3th to get a shirt with the team name on it, “Fruit of the Spirit’s Not a Cranberry”!  Here is the link to sign up:

https://runsignup.com/RaceGroups/30957/Groups/1662014

Hope Cafe

Wednesday November 6th 9:30am-12pm

Join the pastors along with Loretta Swanson for snacks and coffee and tea the morning after the election for ‘Hope Cafe’ held in Friendship Hall and Crossroads at ORUCC. Being in community is healing during these times of anxiety and unknown for our nation. What we do know is that we are in this together and coming together offers hope. Come however you are, and whatever the election results are (or are not! we likely still won’t know the result). Know there will be space for you, a listening ear, yummy snacks and community care. This is an intergenerational space so little ones are welcome. Open to the wider community as well, so feel free to bring a friend.

Women’s Book Group to Meet Thursday, November 7th

Women’s Book Group will meet in person in the Alfred Swan Room and on Zoom on Thursday, November 7th at 1:30-3pm. Joyce Pohl will lead us in a discussion of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. December’s book will be Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. Contact Deanna Blanchard with questions.

Restorative Movement and Meditation

Sunday November 10^th 9:00am-9:45am

Come and join Julie Mazer and Julia Burkey for a quiet time to be together and move together and hold restorative space. This takes place the Sunday after the election and no matter the results, our whole nation and our very souls may be weary and in need of healing and rest. Let’s pause together to breathe, to just be, in gentle movement, in a circle of care. 

Lunch and Learn 

Wednesday, November 13th

Restorative Justice

 On Wednesday November 13^th Professor Jonathan Scharrer will speak to us on The Philosophy and Practice of Restorative Justice. He will offer a basic introduction to restorative justice theory, examining the underlying philosophy and principles of restorative justice as well as the associated restorative practices. 

Professor Scharrer is the Director of the Restorative Justice Project at the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Frank J. Remington Center. He has extensive experience as a facilitator of victim-offender dialogues in sensitive and violent crimes and as a trainer in a variety of restorative justice practices. Professor Scharrer is active in examining criminal justice policy–with a focus on victim-empowerment and addressing racial disparities in the criminal legal system–and has helped design and implement multiple restorative justice diversion programs and restorative responses to crime. Additionally, he currently serves as a member of the advisory council for the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice.

Please join us.  All are welcome.  We will see you Wednesday, November 13^th at 11:30 am.  The meal donation is $10.  Please email Steve Sheets with your RSVP.  We need the count for the Hospitality Team!   [email protected]

Building Peace and Justice in Palestine/Israel

The Palestine Justice Mission Team invites you to a presentation at Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison on November 19, 2024, from 7:00-9:00 pm for a conversation on Collective Liberation with Palestinian and Israeli peace activists Osama Iliwat and Rotem Levin.  Learn more and register. Rotem and Osama will share their transformative journeys of trying to change the reality in Palestine and Israel, about humanity in times of dehumanization and war, and about their hope and the courage to share this hope publicly. Co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace Madison, Mennonite Action-Madison, and Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ.

 Flicker Wild Church

 Save the Date—looking ahead our next two gatherings will be held at and in collaboration with the Farley Center for Peace, Justice & Sustainability. We will gather under the mother oak at the entrance to their Natural Path Sanctuary, as our “Wild Wander” moment will involve the trails that wind through their innovative, inspiring, and deeply earth-honoring green/natural burial grounds. We will meet there on Samhain, November 1, and on the Winter Solstice, December 21, likely at 4pm. 

New Growth—we’ve been working on a new website this summer! We are also excited to share that we have received fiscal sponsorship/ 501(c)3 status through Mission.Earth—tax deductible donations are live now, but stay tuned for emerging plans for a fun fundraising event. We are also in conversation and discernment with the Wisconsin Conference United Church of Christ as a new church start! Our dream is one in which Wild Churches like Flicker are as completely legitimate, self-organizing/self-sustaining, and ultimately impactful in holding space for transformative encounter as any “indoor church” or traditional spiritual community. I remain more convinced than ever that the Earth (ecosystems, climate, biodiversity) is calling out for more nature-honoring human spiritualities to pop up like mushrooms and flourish, and so we’d love to invite you all to continue with us in this journey of dreaming big for a vibrant year and years ahead for Flicker Wild Church!

Yours wildly,

Daniel, Julia, Reverie & Kindred 

Ushers needed through Christmas 2024

Please consider signing up to be an usher during our Sunday morning service. Ushers hand out bulletins, help people be seated, take the morning offering and count the money received.

We would like to see the days all filled up. On-the-job training will be provided, but it is very easy to complete the ushering duties.

Please visit the signup genius via the link below. If you have any questions, please contact the church office and they will put you in touch with the appropriate members.

Usher Signup Genius Link

Come sing with us–join our Choir!

All singers are welcome to join our Choir! Rehearsals are Wednesday

evenings from 7:00 to 8:30pm. We sing in worship the first and third

Sundays of the month, gathering for rehearsal 9am those Sunday mornings.

Please share your voice with a group of music-loving friendly people! For more information, email Bruce Gladstone at [email protected].

Spiritual

Nourishment

for you!

For October 31 – November 6

Daily Reflections: October 31 – November 6 

We are grateful for the ministry of Jeanne Moberly who is a member of Adult Faith Formation, as she puts together a set of fresh readings every week for our devotional practice at Orchard Ridge UCC. If you know someone who needs encouragement and would like the devotional mailed to them, please contact the church office.

Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ

1501 Gilbert Road

Madison, WI 53711

608-271-7212

Office Hours: M-Th 8:30-12:30